Building hybrid VTOL aircraft in Australia. Sharing what we test, what breaks and what we learn. Also into rockets, drones, EVs and AI.
Joined September 2026
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FPV won the expendable war.
Nobody solved reusable speed at real payload.
Hexes are slow. Fixed-wing needs a runway. One-ways die once.
What’s missing: a VTOL that launches vertical, flies fast, recovers clean, and scales toward 100 kg — without becoming a flying truck.
That’s the gap.
We’re on it.
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Skyreach trades fuel for cargo inside one 100 lb budget: 1,300+ miles one way with 10 lb aboard, 280+ miles with 80 lb.
The engine also recharges the lift battery in flight, so there is no ground charging. How much charge must the battery hold back to land if the generator stops mid-route? teapaw.org/skyways/status/2119806…
ONE PLATFORM. INFINITE MISSIONS.
Meet Skyreach.
Built from our operational experience that spans 3,600+ flights, 90,000+ km flown, 8 years of military operations with current operations on three continents— Skyreach is built by the mission.
Deliver Anywhere. Deliver Far. Deliver Anything. Deliver Scale.
Airlift Anywhere Now.
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Two drones carrying one load on two ropes: if one drifts, one rope goes slack and the other drone takes all the weight.
A new paper lets the load slide on one rope between them, like a pulley. Each drone then holds an even share wherever they sit, and stays closer to even in simulated gusts.
arxiv.org/abs/2611.12754
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Wing now reaches tens of thousands of homes across the Memphis metro, with groceries and medicine in as fast as 30 minutes.
The flight is usually the quick part. How much of that 30 minutes is picking and packing the order before the drone leaves? teapaw.org/Wing/status/2120205888…
Today we expanded drone delivery to tens of thousands of homes across the Memphis metro. Local residents can now order groceries, medicine and household essentials delivered by air in as fast as 30 minutes.
Read more: wing.com/news/wing-brings-a-….
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A drone that folds to fit through a gap narrower than itself. No fold motors. The hit on the gap edge does the folding.
Arza, Alexis, Mintchev and team let an optimizer tune the frame and arm stiffness in sim. The prototype goes from 31.3 cm to 14.1 cm wide and flies through a 15 cm gap at 2 m/s.
In open air it costs under 1% extra power.
arxiv.org/abs/2611.09272
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Hivemind flew several Air Force drone wingmen as one team on Oct 26, three weeks after an F-22 pilot called maneuvers for an FQ-44A Fury.
The big claim is fly, update the software overnight, fly again. What gets re-tested before an overnight update is cleared to fly? teapaw.org/shieldaitech/status/21…
For the first time, Hivemind flew multiple @usairforce Collaborative Combat Aircraft as a coordinated team.
On October 26, Hivemind enabled multiple CCAs to execute a multi-ship formation and beyond-visual-range air combat tactics. Three weeks earlier, an F-22 pilot in flight sent commands to an FQ-44A Fury, and Hivemind executed the maneuvers the pilot called for. The pilot sets the plan, and Hivemind carries it out across the team.
"The combined Hivemind and aircraft software release process is nearing the point where the Air Force can fly a sortie, update the software overnight and fly again the next day," said Todd Wesley, our VP of Hivemind engineering.
Full article: bit.ly/4k8jH8z
Autonomy for the world. The greatest victory requires no war.
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Ice hits small, fast-spinning rotors harder than big wings.
Their thin blade edges sweep through cold cloud fast and catch more of the freezing droplets. In Iowa State icing-tunnel tests on a drone-size propeller, wet ice cut thrust by up to 70% and needed up to 250% more power to keep it spinning.
So for small electric rotors, cold cloud is a limit to plan around, not push through.
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Source: Liu, Li, Ning, Tian & Hu (Iowa State), "Experimental Investigation on the Dynamic Icing Process over a Rotating Propeller Model", AIAA Journal of Propulsion and Power, 2018. arc.aiaa.org/doi/10.2514/1.B…
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Which drone should you send to catch an intruder? Often not the nearest one, and not the fastest one.
Researchers at Federation University Australia and the University of Chittagong pick the interceptor by its true time to reach the target. That time counts turn radius, launch delay and no-fly zones.
In 20 simulated scenarios with 8 drones each, "send the nearest" picked the wrong drone 9 times. "Send the fastest" picked wrong 14 times.
arxiv.org/abs/2611.07279
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Engine light-off, nozzle integration and a weapons bay wind tunnel check are the ground steps. For a fighter built to skip the runway, the next proof is the first vertical takeoff. Will flight test start with a tethered hover or go straight to switching from hover to forward flight?
A year of X-BAT development, on the floor at International Fighter Conference.
Since we announced X-BAT last year, we've completed engine light off, thrust vectoring nozzle integration, and wind tunnel validation of the weapons bay, clearing the path to flight testing. Our team brought the latest development to @DefenceIQ's IFC 2026: X-BAT 001.
@rtsengusa revealed the first full-scale prototype of our autonomous VTOL strike fighter. Todd Wesley and Andrew Hawkes MSc covered how we build autonomy that commanders can trust and air power that doesn't rely on runways. More on X-BAT coming soon.
Autonomy for the world. The greatest victory requires no war.
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A drone that drops its own breadcrumbs when it starts to get lost.
In blank tunnels and white corridors, camera navigation drifts because there is nothing to track. A University of Naples team has the drone notice that, then drop pebbles or dab a wall with a sponge to make new landmarks.
In real corridor flights, position error fell about 35%.
arxiv.org/abs/2611.07687
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Electra estimates about 3 hours 30 minutes saved versus driving between New York and Washington, D.C.
The useful Ultra Short test is that door-to-door time, from a Manhattan heliport instead of a runway airport.
A fixed-wing aircraft taking off and landing at a Manhattan heliport.
That's what Life Beyond Runways looks like.
Thank you to @NBCNewYork for covering Electra's recent demonstration at Downtown Skyport and highlighting the potential for Ultra Short aircraft to transform regional connectivity.
#Electra #DirectAviation #LifeBeyondRunways
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ETH Zurich's FlexiQuad bends on a hit instead of breaking.
A soft ring frame flexes sideways, stays stiff for thrust, and kept flying after lab collisions at about 25 km/h. Top speed is up to 80 km/h. Patent filed.
Useful for inspection and rescue in clutter, where the first bump usually ends the flight.
ethz.ch/en/news-and-events/e…
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The useful part of X-70 is the modular kit.
NASA says it can swap up to 2,000 lb of experiments between flights on the same airframe. teapaw.org/NASAaero/status/211816…
🚨 BREAKING: Introducing X-70 Fractal, @NASA's newest experimental aircraft!
This crewed, modular aircraft will allow the agency to rapidly swap out internal & external payloads to help keep pushing the frontiers of aviation technology! @nasaadmin
Details: go.nasa.gov/4kAeM0d
ALT Generated image of NASA’s new X-70 Fractal experimental aircraft, a crewed, rapidly reconfigurable research platform for advanced aviation technologies.
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When one quadrotor motor weakens, the best emergency landing method depends on which motor it is.
A new paper picks a different redistributor for each failed motor. In simulation, that frozen map landed safely on first contact in 117 of 120 fresh trials.
arxiv.org/abs/2611.08259
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X-59 just ferried Birmingham to Daytona Beach for the MAX POWER show.
The ferry is logistics. The useful proof is still a community overflight that measures the quiet thump on the ground.
Flying high!
Today, our X-59 quiet supersonic X-59 aircraft traveled from Birmingham, Alabama, to Daytona Beach, Florida. The aircraft aims to fly faster than sound with just a gentle thump rather than a sonic boom — helping usher in a new era of faster air travel.
We're prepping to feature X-59 at MAX POWER and will provide updates soon!
ALT NASA’s X-59 experimental supersonic aircraft in flight over the ocean, seen from the side with its long, needle-thin nose pointing left. The aircraft is silver-white on top with a dark blue underside. Puffy white clouds and a strip of coastline fill the background.
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Eight public numbers from aerospace and physical AI this week:
1. Joby at MCO Vertipad Atlantis: first eVTOL pad onsite at a U.S. commercial airport. Approach work included 2 years of simulation with FAA and controllers.
2. JIATF-401: CHAOS 1 awarded more than $6.9M for Vanquish Prime C-UAS radars for CENTCOM.
3. Agility Robotics lists on Nasdaq as AGLT: about $465M gross capital and more than $300M in committed multi-year Digit 5 orders.
4. Joby Superpilot: first civilian autonomous U.S. coast-to-coast flight, 3,199 miles with zero disengagements. USAF autonomy work is nearly $37M.
5. Rocket Lab Electron Flight 99: iQPS WADATSUMI-II to 575 km. 20th Electron of 2026, with 8 more dedicated iQPS launches booked.
6. FCC: unlocks 50 MHz of 800 MHz Cellular spectrum for UAS command, control, and payload links.
7. Wisk: opens a 100 x 100 ft vertiport at Hollister Municipal for autonomous Gen 6 and GPS-denied landing tests.
8. U.S. Army Future Interceptor: Lockheed Martin OTA at $1.08B total ($660.4M government, $423M company cost share).
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A counter-drone chase that keeps the target in the camera.
Most quadrotor interceptors mount the camera fixed to the body. Speed up and you tilt. Tilt and the target slides out of view.
Beihang's ISB-NMPC plans both jobs together. Outdoor flights acquired a 30 cm target from about 150 m and reached about 17 m/s.
arxiv.org/abs/2610.34789
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Joby landed at Orlando airport's new vertipad, a short walk from Terminal C and the train station.
The approach was planned over two years of simulation with the FAA and Orlando air traffic controllers.
What did the real landing show that the simulator didn't?
It’s NOT a bird. It’s NOT a plane. It’s a FLYING ELECTRIC AIR TAXI! 👀 ☁️
Today, FDOT launched innovative aircraft from @JobyAviation at @MCO’s first dedicated Vertipad as part of Florida’s Future of Flight Series! These aircraft will revolutionize how people and goods move throughout the state, especially above the I-4 corridor between Tampa and Orlando. Learn more >> bit.ly/3UvTp5R
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A drone that dodges obstacles with an event camera.
Normal cameras blur at speed and in the dark. Event cameras report pixel changes in under 1 ms.
Trained in a GPU sim, it flew a real quadrotor with no real-world retraining, even in low light.
arxiv.org/abs/2610.38967
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